How to Neuter an Adult Buck

NEUTERINGHow to Neuter an Older Buck!

By Sue Reith.

Question:

>>At what age is a buck too old to be banded so that he needs to go to the vet for neutering???<<

Never! The mature buck has a much greater chance of recovery, (In fact, my observation is that it actually has a much greater chance of SURVIVAL!) if you can handle the project yourself, right there in the stress-free environment of his own barn. I do this frequently for mature bucks that people have dragged out of the most horrible conditions, so as to make them more welcome, for obvious reasons, in their new homes. With castration and proper worming the transformation is absolutely amazing!

The first thing I did, actually many years ago, was to get the largest elastrator bander I could find... The one I found came from Nasco, it's aluminum, and it has a 7 1/2 inch circumference when it's fully open. When stretched fully open like that the widest side is 2 1/2 inches, whereas on most elastrators the widest side is only 2 inches. And I found some really heavy-duty elastrator bands at Nasco as well... While for routine buckling castrations I use the green 'donut' elastrator bands, these that I use on mature bucks are of a thick, tan rubber, and they look like they might have been cut from a rubber tube sliced into lots of little circles. (I don't really know if the small green donuts would work on mature bucks OK or not, as I've never tried them...)

Preparation for the task requires the following:

Elastrator and band

Lidocaine Banamine

Tetanus antitoxin (if he's not been given a CD/T toxoid booster recently)

Penicillin (long acting type if available, to be given in a single dose, preventatively!)

Goat stanchion (preferably one that's at least a foot off the ground)

2 strong husbands, (or ????)

And, last but not least,

Yourself!

Process:Put the buck into the goat stanchion, with some yummy browse in the feeder tray to munch on...

Give the big guy a single dose of Banamine, subcutaneously, at the rate of 1cc/100lbs.

Get the two strong husbands to each grab a back leg and lift it up off the ground so that the testes are swinging free and clear.

Inject ~ 3cc of Lidocaine (injecting a small amount of it into at least 6 sites, in small doses) all the way around the scrotum where it attaches to the body.

Slide the extra-sturdy elastrator ring onto the 4 prongs of the elastrator tool.

Stretch the elastrator tool as wide as it will go, in so doing providing a huge opening in the center of the elastrator ring thru which to slide the testes.

With the 4 prongs pointed UPWARDS towards the goat's body, carefully place the fully opened elastrator tool at the base of the two testes...

Then nudge just one of the testicles gently thru the large elastrator band circle ...

When it's been dropped in thru the elastrator band past the actual ball part of the testicle, nudge it gently over against the far side of the open ring, away from the the testicle that hasn't been dropped thru yet.

Then manipulate the 2nd testicle carefully thru the remaining open area of the stretched-open elastrator band.

Once both testicles are thru the band and hanging down correctly, carefully ease the elastrator band upward as high as possible on the scrotum, to just about where it joins the body.

Then release the pressure, allowing the elastrator band to tighten over the tissue, and pull out the 4 prongs of the elastrator...

And last but not least, give him a subcutaneous injection of penicillin (at the rate of 5cc per 100 lbs) preferably the long-acting kind, to prevent any invasive bacteria from even getting started towards creating an infectious process after the procedure is done.

Then tell him what a good boy he was, and lead him out to your favorite rosebush so he can munch on the leaves as a treat for his being so cooperative.

He'll happily prune the poor rosebush without a care in the world, and that'll be that...

Excepting that in ~ 28 days more or less the whole thing will drop off... And chances are you'll never see it again.

Addendum: The rescued bucks often have horns as well... In which case I use this castration opportunity to shave the hair away from around the base of each horn and band it (roll an elastrator band down over the 'cornet', taping it with duct tape to hold it in place) to complete the picture! (I have an article on that as well, should anyone want to see it... )

Sue Reith Carmelita Herd Bainbridge Island WAsuereith@,msn.com(While I urge you to share this information with other individual small livestock owners, please do not reproduce the article for publication without my specific permission. Thank you. Sue Reith.)

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